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Premature baby boy has his feeding tube removed in time for Christmas dinner

A premature baby boy, who was born at only 25 weeks gestation, had his feeding tube removed just in time for Christmas.

Baby Iarla Ace, who weighed just 1lb 10oz when he was born prematurely, was able to taste his first-ever Christmas dinner at home.  

Iarla faced many serious medical issues, including a brain haemorrhage, in the weeks following his birth; however, the little fighter has overcome them all. Now, after spending 127 days in hospital, he has finally been discharged ahead of Christmas. 

“At the very, very start it was very precarious – we really didn’t think he was going to survive the first couple of days”, his mum, Lindsay Ace, said. 

“But he’s a really strong wee man and everything and every idea that they [the doctors] came up with, it just seemed to work for him, and he seemed to just get past each hurdle and then move on to the next one”, she continued. 

“It’s going to be amazing just for us all to be together at home this year for Christmas, and just eat dinner and visit family and enjoy just the four of us being together without having to go anywhere near a hospital”.

Lindsay said the family’s previous Christmas was “horrible”, as she and her husband spent the time trying to balance visits to the hospital to see Iarla while ensuring Christmas was a happy time for their other child, four-year-old Aine. 

Baby Iarla is now “very content and happy”

Iarla’s father, Matthew, said that it was “incredible” to finally have his son home in time for Christmas.

“The last four weeks leading up to when you thought he was coming home, time really slowed down rather than got faster”, he added.

Just after the previous Christmas, Iarla suffered a bowel obstruction and had to undergo emergency surgery in the hospital on New Year’s Day.

“I think last year we just got through it because we had to”, Lindsay added.

When the feeding tube was removed, Iarla’s family viewed it as a landmark achievement, with Lindsay saying, “I just cried and cried, I was just so happy, just so proud of him”. 

“It was a very long process to get to that stage and now he really is thriving, he’s meeting all his developmental milestones for his corrected age. He is really enjoying eating and drinking and he’s a very content and happy little man”, she continued.

Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “It is heartening to hear that baby Iarla has made it home in time for Christmas, with the added bonus of trying his first ever Christmas dinner”.

“Very premature babies like Iarla demonstrate how resilient even the youngest humans in our society are and point to the humanity of the children in the womb”.

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Only hours left of the appeal to stop three major anti-life threats.

Only hours left of the appeal to stop three major anti-life threats.

Dear reader,

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like you across the UK, the McArthur assisted suicide Bill in Scotland was defeated in March by 69 votes to 57.

Then, in April, the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill fell in the House of Lords.

Many commentators thought both Bills would become law.

If that had happened, governments in England, Scotland and Wales would now be preparing to roll out assisted suicide services.

Over the coming decades, this would have led to the deaths of many thousands of vulnerable people.

But that is not what happened.

Because supporters like you acted, those Bills were stopped.

Because of you, many vulnerable lives have been saved.

These were two very significant victories. But sadly, they are not the last battles we face this year.

The new Parliamentary session began on Wednesday. We now face three major threats.

  1. Attempts to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill and bypass the House of Lords

    The assisted suicide lobby, led by Dignity in Dying, a multi-million-pound pressure group, has made it clear that it is going to attempt to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill in the next parliamentary session.

    It then plans to use the Parliament Acts to bypass the House of Lords and force the Bill into law.

  2. Labour Government plans for a major expansion of abortion provision, including financial incentives for ‘lunch-hour’ abortions

    Under these plans, the Government would financially incentivise major abortion providers, BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices, to provide ‘lunch-hour’ or ‘same-day’ abortions.

    ‘Lunch-hour’ abortion services are walk-in abortion services designed to fit into a woman’s lunch hour.

    Women facing an unplanned pregnancy need time, care and support, not a system that gives abortion clinics a financial incentive to rush them through consultations, scans and abortions on the same day.

    If these plans go ahead, many more lives are likely to be ended by abortion here in the UK.

  3. Extreme abortion up to birth proposals in Scotland

    In Scotland, plans are moving forward to introduce an extreme abortion up to birth law. This would go far beyond the abortion law change recently backed by the Lords for England and Wales.

    A review of abortion law in Scotland, commissioned by Humza Yousaf when he was Scottish First Minister, recommended that the Scottish Government scrap the current 24-week time limit – and abortion be available on social grounds, including for sex-selective purposes, right up to birth.

    The final plans are expected to be brought forward as a Government Bill in the new Scottish Parliament, which began on Thursday.

If these three major threats succeed, thousands of vulnerable lives will be lost.

We cannot allow this to happen.

We can only defeat these three major threats with your help.

We ran our biggest campaigns ever to help defeat the assisted suicide Bills at Westminster and in Scotland.

That work has made a serious dent in our limited resources.

To cover this gap and ensure we can effectively defeat these three major threats in the coming months, we are aiming to raise at least £199,250 by midnight this Sunday (17 May 2026).

We are, therefore, appealing to you to please give as generously as you can.

Every donation, large or small, will make a crucial difference in saving the lives of the unborn and many others. Plus, if you are a UK taxpayer, £1 becomes £1.25 with Gift Aid at no extra cost to you.

By stopping these threats, YOU can save lives during this new Parliamentary session.

Will you donate now to help protect vulnerable lives from these three major threats?

EMERGENCY
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Only hours left of the appeal to stop three major anti-life threats.

Only hours left of the appeal to stop three major anti-life threats.